The present invention relates generally to ultra-wide band (UWB) communication and orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signals in UWB communication, and more particularly to symbol interference correction for received symbols.
Ultrawideband (UWB) communication systems communicate information spread over a large bandwidth, a bandwidth generally shared with other users. Generally, UWB systems may use OFDM signals. An OFDM carrier signal is the sum of a number of orthogonal subcarriers. Baseband data on each subcarrier is independently modulated. Some type of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or phase-shift keying (PSK) may be used as the modulation scheme. The composite baseband signal is typically used to modulate a main RF carrier. OFDM modulation and demodulation may be implemented using digital filter banks generally using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) scheme.
OFDM symbol structures and frequency hopping patterns are disclosed in Multiband OFDM Physical Layer Specification, Release 1.0, Jan. 14, 2005 (“MBOA Standard”) which is incorporated by reference herein.
The presence of a multipath channel may present difficulties for data communication. In a multipath environment, a transmitted signal may reflect off several objects. As a result, multiple delayed versions of the transmitted signal may arrive at a receiver. The multiple versions of the signal may cause the received signal to be distorted. As a result, each received subcarrier may experience a complex gain, including an amplitude and a phase distortion, due to channel effects. An OFDM symbol transmitted through a multipath wireless channel may encounter both an intersymbol interference and an intrasymbol interference problem. Intersymbol interference is generally the result of interference between successive OFDM symbols. The intrasymbol interference occurs in multicarrier systems, and may be the result of interference amongst the subcarriers of a single OFDM symbol.
A guard interval may be used to address the effects of intersymbol interference as well as to provide transmitters and receivers time to frequency hop in frequency hopping systems. A first, or last, few samples of a symbol are set as a guard interval. The guard interval generally will not contain any useful information and may be discarded at the receiver. The guard interval, however, may not eliminate interference with a symbol.
A cyclic prefix may be included in each symbol to reduce interference effects. A cyclic prefix generally includes a replica of the last samples of a symbol and as such contains redundant information that may be discarded at the receiver. The cyclic prefix generally has the effect of the symbol appearing periodic to a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) unit, and transforms a convolution of the symbol samples with the channel effects into a multiplication of the two that may be more readily undone in the frequency domain. However, using a cyclic prefix generates a ripple in the power spectral density of the transmitted signal which increases power use. Using a null prefix instead of a cyclic prefix does not generate a ripple in the spectrum, and therefore, using a null prefix may permit an effective higher transmission power for UWB transmissions. The use of a null prefix, however, may result in difficulties in accounting, for example, for multipath interference.